Sapphamire Read online

  Taking the momentary advantage she had with her surprise attack, she brought her foot up and kicked Danielle in the gut while their swords were still locked together. The other woman stumbled slightly as she took a step or two backwards, and Natasha wasted no time in giving her another kick, this time sending her sprawling on the ground. Knowing she had no other choice, Natasha quickly swung her sword down and to the side, cleanly decapitating Danielle.

  Natasha stood over the body, breathing heavily. Commotion off to her side snapped her head back up. All of Blain’s guards had suddenly jumped up, as if coming out of a trance. Hmm, maybe she had been a witch of some type, and had cast a spell on them. That would make sense, since it would have been suicide to try to fight both Blain and his guards. As it was, the guards were making short work of rounding up Danielle’s minions.

  “Leave a few of them alive,” she heard Blain order from behind her.

  She turned his way and helped him to stand. “Damn, but whatever she had dipped her sword in burns like a bitch!” he growled as they headed over to one of his guards who was holding a captive.

  “Speak!” Blain demanded. “Tell me why you attacked, why Boragello wants me dead!”

  “Fuck you!” The mammoth of a man spat in Blain’s face. “You might win today, but if Boragello didn’t already want you dead, he damn sure does now that you have killed his girlfriend!” Both Blain and Natasha watched as the man started twitching, an evil grin spreading across his face, even as he began foaming at the mouth. “There are more coming, he won’t stop until you are both dead.” The man’s eyes rolled back into his head as he took his last breath.

  “Don’t touch him,” Blain ordered both Natasha and his guard. “It’s poison, I can smell it. He must have had something in his mouth that he could activate if things went south.

  They both turned as they watched with horrid fascination as all of Boragello’s men succumbed to the same thing. “Well, it was either something already in their mouth, or it might be some kind of spell.” He looked over to Natasha. “I suspect Danielle was some type of witch and used her abilities to cast a spell on the men. As far as I can tell, they are all human, so it could have been a spell to increase their strength. It may also have been laced with succumbing to death by poisoning if she didn’t make it.”

  He turned to walk away from her, but she reached out to grab his arm. “Wait a minute, you couldn’t smell what she was?” He was a dragon shifter. Surely he knew what type of paranormal being she was.

  “No, whatever she was, she managed to cloak her scent very well from me.”

  Just then they began to hear the engine of a car. It was still a bit off in the distance, but from the sound of the roaring engine, it was heading their way, and fast.

  Blain looked around at his guards. “Come on, everyone in the vehicles, we need to regroup.” He was still strongly feeling the effects of what he was fairly certain was poison running through his body. And although the guards had seemed to come out of whatever spell Danielle had placed on them, he noticed none of them was completely one hundred percent. The only one who didn’t seem affected by the battle was Natasha.

  They quickly reached the two limos only to find Blain’s driver dead, slumped over in his seat. He called for one of the guards. “Move the body over. He goes back with us for a proper burial. I refuse to leave him here with all the tainted magic and evil on these grounds.”

  The guard made short work of moving the driver’s body, and Blain started to get in the driver’s seat. “Uh, no, big man, I’m driving. You are injured.”

  Blain gave Natasha a look as if he thought she had grown two heads. Just as he was about to argue, his guard stepped up. “Sir, she is right. Allow me to drive, please.”

  He shook his head at the two people standing in front of him, blocking the entrance to the vehicle. “Very well, Ethan. Get in,” he grabbed Natasha’s arm and yanked her into the back, following her in.

  As soon as they were on the road, Natasha reached over to the seat directly in front of her, pulled the seat portion up, and retrieved a black leather duffle bag.

  “That wasn’t there before,” Blain said, watching her closely as she unzipped the bag and pulled out two pistols.

  “I had the car renovated early this morning. I never go anywhere unprepared. And I can promise you,” she paused, snapping in two new magazines and looking over at him. “That’s not the only new hidden compartment in this car or the castle.”

  The car jerked suddenly as a bullet zipped past the side of their limo, shattering the side mirror. Blain looked behind them to see they were being pursued by three cars. Still didn’t make any sense why someone would want him dead just because he turned down a business proposal.

  They both heard tires squealing as they watched the limo with the guards in it get hit from behind, lose control, and go into a spin before stopping on the forest side of the road.

  Natasha rolled down her window and stuck her upper body through the empty spot just enough to unload the magazine in her gun at the cars behind them. She shot out at least one tire on two different cars, and had also managed to hit the passenger in the car directly behind them. The two cars with blown-out tires skidded to a stop, leaving only one chasing them.

  “Sir, what do you want me to do?” Ethan inquired from the front seat.

  Before Blain could open his mouth to respond, Natasha answered, “Just keep driving and don’t stop, no matter what!”

  “I can’t get a good shot at the driver,” she said, sliding back down into her seat.

  “I guess we’ll just have to see if we can lose him along the way,” Blain stated, noticing that she was looking at him intently. “What?” he questioned, wondering what was going through that devious mind of hers.

  Without saying a word, she climbed on top of him, straddling his lap facing him, her thighs hugging onto his hips. His mouth fell open as she pulled out a sniper’s rifle from the bag and looked back at him.

  “I don’t think that this is the right time to be playing any games,” he teased, though loving having her on top of him.

  She cocked a brow at him with a devilish glint in her eyes. “Just help hold me steady,” she said, leaning out of his window and aiming the gun once again.

  The way she positioned herself gave him a great view of her ass. Even with her clothes on, his dragon was salivating to bite into the luscious globes. If it weren’t for the crazy situation they were in, he would consider letting his dragon have his way. But the situation was getting crazier by the minute, and he had to reach home and then figure out how to rid his body of the poison now running through it. 'Hmm, luscious,' his dragon groaned. 'I’d even let her be on top, oh yeah, with those delicious melons bouncing as we take her.'

  “Um, boss, we got a bit of a problem. We are coming to a dead end up ahead, so if you two got something up your sleeve back there, please hurry up with it,” his guard called from the front.

  “Give me a minute,” Natasha yelled as she tried to get a clean shot in.

  He leaned forward to check on the road. “Natasha, we don’t have a minute. Take the shot now.”

  “Give me a minute.”

  “Take the damn shot!” he yelled as he watched them fast approaching the end of the road with a barricade up and a long drop down off the cliff after that.

  Suddenly, time slowed down into slow motion. The rifle was fired as Ethan slammed on the brakes and spun the car around, the back tires skidding to a stop just at the edge of the cliff. They watched as the now dead driver’s car flew off the road and down into the unknown. Natasha slid back inside, staring back into Blain’s wide eyes. That was way too close a call for either of them to like. He reached up and cupped her cheek, smiling slowly as the realization finally hit him that she was okay—they were all right and still here.

  “We did it,” Natasha breathed heavily, leaning her head against his.

  “No, you did that, baby,” he corrected. He couldn’t help himself f
rom sinking his fingers deep into her hair that had loosened from its tight braid during all the action. Their breaths mixed together as they panted from their adrenaline.

  Her eyes searched over him. Had he really just called her baby? Why so? She was his right-hand, secretary, and maybe friend, nothing more. She had chalked up last night to two friends having a good time and just a few too many drinks on Blain’s end of the deal, but that was it. He hadn’t shown any signs otherwise this morning, so she thought she knew where she stood. And then after she had looked up a bit of information…. But now? His hands running through her hair, his lips only inches away from kissing hers… Her gaze landed on the trickle of blood running down the side of his face, she looked up to see that where he had hit the boulder, his head had been cut open and was gushing blood.

  “Oh, crap, you are hurt worse than I realized!” she exclaimed, her fingers lightly touching the small stream of blood. She really hadn’t meant to break the mood on where they were going, but then again, maybe it was best with his houseguest arriving that afternoon. Oh, yes, she had read the file and knew all the details. What she didn’t understand was these feelings she was starting to develop for him, and even worse, his actions toward her. She wondered how things were going to play out once Lady Jade arrived. As for her part, she would maintain complete professionalism. She could do this. She had to do this. Blain was her last chance at freedom.

  “Oh,” Blain said, touching the wound and then looking at the blood on his fingers. His eyes were suddenly beginning to become heavy and lazy.

  Turning to the guard, she took charge. “We need to get him back to the castle immediately. He is bleeding continuously. I don’t know how to stop it.”

  “I overheard him say something about poison. I am in contact with the other guards. One of them is placing an emergency call to the Council. With a little luck, we will have help soon.”

  “I hope you are right,” Natasha replied, helping him recline a bit and holding a cloth against the wound, hoping to slow the bleeding. Maybe his guards would have better luck with the Council, but Natasha wasn’t going to bank on it. All of her dealings with the pompous asses had not gone well.

  As they sped down the road toward Blain’s castle, Natasha was busy categorizing a list of things she wanted changed immediately. She wanted heavy duty SUVs for outings such as this. She would be renovating the interior of the vehicles herself, and would make sure they were stocked with weapons at all times. She narrowed her eyes on him, he could just leave his ego at the door if he thought he could only travel by limo. And while there were plenty of improvements possible for a limo, such as bullet-proof glass that he obviously hadn’t ordered, the fact was, a car this size was just too big to maneuver around trees and such if caught in the forest. As far as she was concerned, this was the first and last time an attack like this would occur under her watch.

  She had also learned another tactical error on their part. Blain and his guards used brute strength to defeat their enemies. They didn’t use weapons as a rule. That stopped today. As soon as this situation was under control, she would see to it each guard was equipped with, and trained on, several weapons.

  They arrived back at the castle a short time later. Two guards appeared at the door the moment the car came to a stop. They helped Blain out of the car, walking on either side to help support him.

  “Take him to his bedroom,” Natasha ordered in a don’t-argue-with-me tone.

  She ran to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a lot in it. She guessed it was because as far as she knew, other than some of the staff, there were not very many humans in the castle.

  “Sophie, would you mind warming Blain up some hot broth?”

  “Not at all, miss,” the young assistant cook quickly replied. Most of the house staff was now hanging around upstairs, wanting to find out what was going on with the boss man.

  “I am not some invalid that you must spoon-feed me broth,” Blain growled. The moment the words were out of his mouth, his dragon perked his head up. 'Invalid, smishvalid, if our mate wants to hand—feed us, let her. I for one will enjoy watching her take care of you. Just look at her, she cares about you. She is worried sick about you.'

  Natasha sent him a glare before retorting, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will be feeling better to enjoy lunch with Lady Jade. But right now, your body needs some nutrients.”

  'You screw up again. Now she won’t feed us. She is mad at you. She thinks that dragon lady is your mate. Now, I am going to sleep. You fix mate!' And with that, his dragon went completely silent. So she thinks Lady Jade and I are an item? She is jealous, he thought to himself with an inner grin.

  'Fix mate!' his dragon grumbled from deep inside him.

  But what about her? Was she not going to eat? She had been through a rough time today also, and as such, needed to keep her own strength up. He quickly decided to let it go for the time being. She was not happy with him, so more than likely anything he said would turn into an argument.

  “Now, hold still,” she ordered a moment later. She dabbed a damp cloth at his head, first cleaning up the drying blood, and then gently and carefully cleaning the wound. He winced when the cloth first touched the open gash.

  “Sorry,” she said, her body suddenly going rigid. Her hands were shaky. She had never performed first-aid on an employer, and since they were fairly certain he had been poisoned, she really didn’t know how to go about taking care of him. She was so scared she was going to screw up and hurt him more that she yelped and nearly jumped off the bed when his hands gently closed over her wrists.

  “Are you all right? You’re real jumpy,” he said, searching her eyes.

  “I’m fine,” she tried to brush him off, but he wasn’t buying.

  “Natasha.” He used his Dom voice. The tone brooked no argument.

  “Sir, I messed up today in not protecting you, resulting in you getting injured. I’m just waiting for you to give me the word so I can go pack my bags,” she stated, way too openly.

  “Natasha, you’re not going anywhere. What happened back there, you couldn’t prevent. But you took action the minute the bottom fell out, and I’m both glad and proud of you for doing that. Hell, you even warned me of impending danger, and I am the one who owes you an apology. I guess I just brushed off your warning thinking I was going to meet a human, female trainer. Believe me, I will be taking your warnings much more seriously in the future. Now, you wouldn’t happen to know how to stop me from bleeding to death while we wait for a magic healer, would you?”

  The young cook, Sophie, gasped softly from the doorway at overhearing her boss talk so frankly and openly to one of his employees. Yes, Natasha was Mr. Barrymire’s right-hand person, and that automatically put her at the top of his staff, but Sophie hadn’t ever heard her employer give an apology for anything. She timidly walked into the room carrying the broth Natasha had requested. She kept her eyes and head down as she deposited the small tray on the bedside table.

  “You’re not going anywhere, is that understood?” Blain stated to Natasha.

  Natasha turned her eyes back to Blain, searching his eyes for a long moment before finally nodding. “Okay,” she answered. “Can we just stitch you up, or does the wound need to be open in order to purge the poison out?”

  “Damn, but I love it when you get all sexy on me,” he teased, winking up at her.

  She smiled, pulling out a needle and thread. “So, do I go ahead and close you up, or let you bleed all over your bed?”

  “How do you know all of this?” Blain asked with interest.

  “It was part of the military survival courses I took.”

  “And being a sniper?”

  “It is obvious you didn’t read my full file, did you?” she asked teasingly.

  “I would much rather learn it from you rather than paper, helps in the conversation department. And yeah, go ahead and close me up. Worst case scenario, they’ll just have to reopen the woun
d to purge out the poison.” He flashed her a wicked smile.

  “I can’t fault you there. I wasn’t like most girls growing up, even without being a “ticking time bomb”, I always wanted to be like Lara Croft. So I underwent black ops training first chance I got.” She kept her eyes on her work. “Stop moving, you wiggle about more than a child.”

  “Would you care to be the one to spank me?” he teased, arching an eyebrow in a come-on manner.

  “You are impossible,” she said with a laugh. She quickly finished up with the stitches in both his head and shoulder, then sat the tray with his broth in front of him. “Drink,” she ordered, before turning on her heel to put the first aid kit away.

  She returned to the room a minute later, just in time to watch a stunningly beautiful Japanese woman glide through the door. “Blain, your doorman told me you were injured, are you all right?”

  “I am fine, Jade. Sorry I wasn’t downstairs when you arrived. Natasha has just finished stitching me up, so I am good.”

  Natasha thought it was odd that he hadn’t mentioned the fact he currently had poison running through him to his girlfriend. And she also knew when she was a third wheel.

  “If you don’t need me anymore, I’d like to go get cleaned up.” God, the tone she used made even herself cringe. Oh well, it was out now, and he could just deal with it.

  The dragon princess perched down on the side of the bed, where Natasha had been just moments before. She reached up to tilt Blain’s head in order to inspect his wound.

  “Oh, of course, Natasha. Go take a bit of time for yourself. I’ll be fine here.”

  Lady Jade acted like she had just realized she and Blain were not alone in the room. “Oh, you must be Blain’s right-hand person,” she held her a well-manicured hand out for Natasha to shake. “I’m Lady Jade, a friend of Blain’s.”

  Natasha knew what she was about to say was wrong. But that lock on her mouth had broken a long time ago, and she tended to say what she felt. “Oh, I’d say you are a lot more than friends now, wouldn’t you?”